How Terrific is This Version of the Star Wars Main Theme Performed on a Pipe Organ?

John Williams’ Star Wars score is known for being a full-fledged orchestral work that could be included in the classical music canon. Yet, who knew that a single instrument could make the Star Wars soundtrack as epic as the original instrumentation?

Jelani Eddington achieved terrific results by playing the main theme of Star Wars on the San Filippo Wurlitzer Theater Organ, also known as the “Mighty Wurlitzer”. It was an instrument that, back in the era of silent movies, was installed in theaters so a musician could provide a rudimentary “soundtrack” to a picture that, otherwise would have had no sound: in fact, it was designed to sound as close to a full orchestra as possible.Several wealthy people made it a point to have one installed in their basement.

Angelica Frey is an Italian former scholar in Classics who just got her master’s degree in journalism from NYU. She has written for Saveur and First We Feast and is now a regular contributor to New York Magazine’s Bedford+Bowery. She has a soft spot for Germanic mythology, Tchaikovsky and Japanese pop culture.

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